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worldofv33's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, and War
literarylily's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
cmab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
vettechmama3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, and War
Minor: Child death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
kdscolley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I truly love this book the more I talk about it, so buckle up.
Luke's past and his own trauma means he's shut off and scared. His reactions directly reflect that of someone who is terrified of what's right in front of them and will do anything to keep it away.
Harper's past, while also terrifying and tragic, gave her an open heart and some extreme compassion. Her desire to have a place to belong was felt. She was a perfect character and I loved every minute. I felt her happiness and wallowed in her sadness right along with her.
*possible slight spoilers ahead*
-I do really wish that he'd groveled more, but I know that's from personal preference. With the kind of person Harper is, it makes sense that what happened was enough for her.
-I cannot wait to read more about this town/characters in the series because oh my word they all tugged on my heart.
-Harp finding what's inside the room and not resorting to anger is honestly the most mature thing a person can do. Her visiting with flowers and talking and being genuinely the most loving, caring, and kind humans made me want to be friends with her too.
Moderate: Death and War
sami_leigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5
She had called a lot of places home, but it was for the lack of a better word. She never really felt at home anywhere.
She laughed a lot. It was a sound that warmed him up. A sound that made him realise how quiet his life had become before. A sound that made him wonder why he had valued the silence so much.
“Fact is, I just don’t have room in my life for her.”
“You’ve got the room; you’re just too chickenshit to make it.”
“I wanted to be memorable.”
“Baby, it would take more than all the time in the world for me to forget you.”
“You can’t put your worth in someone else’s hands like that . . . Whether you mean something to him or not has nothing to do with how inherently valuable you are.”
🌅 Third person
🌅 Meet-disaster
🌅 Fake dating
🌅 Friends with benefits
🌅 National Guard; he deploys in a month
🌅 She’s starting fresh…again
🌅 Protective MMC
🌅 He has secrets
🌅 FMC who understands her worth makes the most of every day 🙌🏻
🌅 Insta-chemistry
🌅 Small town
🌅 Meddling townsfolk
🌅 Tension 🔥
🌅 Found family
🌅 Representation of foster care
🌅 Well established secondary characters: Claire & Charles, Sophie & Ty, Gloria, Aldo (Book 2), Linc (Book 3), Josh, James, Joni, Angry Frank.
🌅 MC growth: grief, communication, guilt, overcoming past trauma.
🌅 Epilogue
• MMC’s perception of the FMC is a klutz who need supervision isn’t fully resolved.
⚠️ Death of a parent (past), car accident (past), death (past), injury/injury detail (explicit), medical trauma (explicit), active duty (MMC deploys in National Guard), child abuse (past, moderate), domestic abuse (not MCs, explicit), violence (moderate), stalking (moderate).
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Stalking, and War
arwenaardbeienstruik's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
meganashlee27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I recently read the first two books in the Knockemout series by Lucy Score and adored them, so I was excited to pick up something else by her. At first it felt like the same kind of story…girl stumbles into a small town, gets picked up by a handsome stranger, and ends up finding love and family. Despite that first impression, there were some different twists and turns this time around. I loved Luke and Harper, the dogs, and the friends. I felt invested in how their relationship would turn out, through the good and the bad. Looking forward to reading the next book to get more of Aldo and Georgia’s story!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for an advanced copy of this book!
Graphic: Domestic abuse, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lololovesthings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score, and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, and War
Minor: Death of parent
hopecobbledpots's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
New to me author Lucy Score wrote Pretend Your Mine in 2015. Bloom Books, an imprint of Source Books, re-released it with a new cover. Lucy Score has made quite a name for herself and gathered loyal fans in Bookstagram and Booktok.
Pretend You're Mine focuses on brokenness in individuals and how that effects relationships. Some of the tropes in this books includes:
-Fake Dating
-One Bed
-Abuse
-Violence
-Psychological Abuse
-Dead Spouse
Harper Lee Wilde cruises into Benevolence on fumes and immediately launches into action when she sees a man choking his girlfriend in the parking lot she landed in. Even though she gets knock around pretty good, she finds herself staring into the eyes of a handsome stranger, Luke Garrison. And that is how the story starts.
What did I like about this story?
First, I loved the town of Benevolence itself. It reminded me so much of the town I grew up in. Everyone knows everyone. For the good, the bad, and the ugly. Benevolence may have been the setting but it many ways it was a character in and of itself.
The strong, healing relationships between the women. Harper is a stranger in Benevolence and she immediately comes to the aid of Gloria. Sophie comes to her aid. The whole town welcomes her. But she has a group of women who cluster around her to gird her up.
Harper's relationship with Mrs. Agosta, Robbie, Henry, and Ava. As a former foster kid, she understands what it is like and she is able to connect with them on a level that is unique because of her experiences.
Claire and Joni - I loved their relationship to Harper. It was absolutely beautiful. Especially Joni. She really was able to overtime so much.
Luke standing up to Harper's abuser. I'm not going to elaborate on this so it isn't a spoiler.
What was OK.
I liked that Luke gave Harper a job in his office. It sounds like it was right up her alley and she was truly able to help him and Beth with updating his systems.
Luke's doing things to show he cares for Harper. Luke maintains he isn't in love with Harper. But he does things to make sure she is cared for. Fixing her car. Making sure she is OK after the attack. Furnishing the house.
What didn't float my boat.
Luke. Luke Garrison is so flawed I cannot believe Harper didn't get the heck out of Benevolence. Then again she is flawed. But his flaws are horrid. The way he treats Harper - a sex object to be used, an office manager to be praised, but let anyone else touch her and they are trounced immediately. She is his property.
The sex scenes - I don't know if these are just Lucy Score learning to write sex scenes or if this is what she thought was good. It wasn't. In fact, the scenes described talk about the violence of the act and it was a turn off. I began skipping over them because after you've read it 6 times, it becomes the same. And I didn't need to read acts of sex making in violence again. It started to feel like this author was trying to write kink without calling it kink.
Overall, I'm giving this book a 3 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Car accident and War